About Us

The objective of Storefront Safety Initiative (SSI) is to provide free resources to those working to increase pedestrian safety where we eat, work, play & shop. We work with industry and government officials to educate and promote building codes. We are doing this by increasing the participation of business owners, property owners, developers, design professionals, and public servants. We believe that implementation of common sense standards of care will help to prevent the substantial injuries and loss of life. ​

Who We Are

SSI was established by Storefront Safety Council (SSC) which works to prevent vehicle-into-building crashes by promoting best practices, educating professionals and stakeholders, documenting effective risk reduction strategies and facilitating local, municipal and state legislation and ordinances. One of the most important efforts undertaken by the SSC is the collecting and reporting of unique data on private property and public access crashes involving commercial buildings, public buildings, public and private pedestrian paths of travel, pedestrian malls, transportation nodes, and many other areas where people eat, work, play and shop.

Objectives

The objectives of the SSI are to promote and provide the following resources at no charge:

Data on frequency and causes of storefront crashes

Common causes and dangerous/hazardous practices or omissions

Common solutions, prevention strategies and best practices

Recommendations for safer parking lots from our own and third party experts

Vender resources for approved safety barriers

Vendor resources for design and installation service providers

Resources on barrier footings, hardware and layouts for end users and specifiers

Vendor resources for risk management service providers and property managers

Mark WrightMark has been researching vehicle-into-building crashes and exploring solutions since 2008 after being hit by a car that crashed through a 7-Eleven storefront. He was an association executive at the time of the accident, became a full-time freelance writer and communications consultant after his recovery, and ironically returned in 2014 to the role he was in at the time of his accident, Executive Director of the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT). For more about Mark: www.about.me/markwrightonline

﻿Rob ReiterRob has become an expert in vehicle incursion accidents; how frequently they occur, their common causes, and the most frequent design or construction failures which lead to them. In the last decade he has worked closely with people in government, industry, academia, and the legal professions to understand the depth of the problem and the day-to-day cost in damages, lost productivity, injuries and lives.

Rob is an expert in preventing accidental and deliberate vehicle intrusions, and is a long-time veteran in the fight against terrorism. He has worked to design, test, manufacture, distribute, and specify thousands of bollards, barriers, and pedestrian safety systems which are now protecting people and property on several continents.

Rob was motivated to focus on protecting pedestrians from vehicle incursions by the 2003 Santa Monica Farmer’s Market tragedy in California in which an 86-year-old driver mowed down dozens of people, killing 10 and injuring 63.

Copyright 2018 by the Storefront Safety Council. All rights reserved. Content may be freely copied and distributed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice and our World Wide Web URL www.storefrontsafety.org